1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for substituting replacement commercial advertisements in place of original broadcast commercials for radio programs broadcast via the Internet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Advertising is the primary mechanism by which producers of products and services capture the attention of potential consumers. In today's global marketplace of chaos and dislocation, the need for advertising has never been greater. Traditionally, mass advertising occurs by way of mass distribution through television, radio, newspapers and the like. Usually, advertisers prescribe the media content and pay for the mass distribution thereof. In some instances, the consumer subsumes a portion of the costs of the advertisements, as for example, by paying for a newspaper subscription. The advent of computer-driven technology, and especially the Internet, has rendered traditional advertising methods obsolete.
The Internet is a system of linked computers that provides for global information exchange and includes innumerable sites, each of which presents advertising, research and other information about a particular organization. Many organizations now rely on the Internet to obtain and transmit crucial and, oftentimes, sensitive information. Thus, the Internet has quickly become one of the most effective means by which an organization can globally advertise its goods and services.
It is now possible to listen to radio programs with a personal computer or other device capable of receiving audio data via the Internet. This is because it is becoming common for a regular broadcast radio station to make their programs available via the Internet. Internet radio programs originate from many different regions of the world. As a result, they are frequently sprinkled with commercial advertisements that are targeted to the region from which the program originated. A commercial for an automobile dealer in Lisbon is of little value to an Internet listener in Philadelphia. On the other hand, an Internet Hosting Service providing radio station content to the listener would benefit by substituting commercials of advertisers interested in reaching such listeners. The original commercials provide no benefit to the original radio station or advertisers, nor to the listener, nor are they a source of revenue for a business organization such as an Internet Hosting Service which presents radio stations on the Internet.
There remains a need in the art for an effective way to substitute replacement commercials for original broadcast commercials in radio programs transmitted via the Internet.